Case-in-point, throughout the story you’re given the opportunity to rescue survivors, who are hoveled up in whatever tiny safe houses they can find. Right from the start, you’re periodically asked to make decisions that might not have as much impact on the flow of the narrative as initially appears, but should be morally and ethically challenging to you nonetheless. Left Alive wants you to question just about everything that you do, and it’s one very downbeat game about war as a result. The sinister way that they perch in the middle of ruined cities, ready to fire off their massive guns at any of the few remaining survivors in town, is a truly effective way of re-framing wanzers as an object of discussion – suddenly, they’re not just a fun mech but a question about whether the ongoing escalation of weaponry used in war is morally just. They’re also far less utilitarian in their role in the game’s narrative than they have been in titles past. And they’re every bit as intimidating as hulking giants of war should be. There’s no way you can battle one of those things – if they start firing at you, you’re dead. By changing the perspective – forcing you to sneak around as a vastly outgunned individual, suddenly those wanzers take on a whole new sense of awe-inspiring scale.

Fans of Front Mission have been waiting for lord knows how long now for a new “true” game in the franchise, and instead of delivering that, the last two Front Mission titles that Square Enix has delivered have been a derivative action shooter that was forgotten nearly as soon as it was released, and Left Alive a stealth/survival game where you’re not even piloting wanzers for the most part.īut I think I understand where Left Alive fits into this property. Front Mission started out as a tactics RPG property, in which players would command giant mechs – wanzers – in a strategic, turn-based combat. It’s often a mess to play, but, equally, it’s a far smarter game than most will give it credit for.įor those who haven’t been following along, Left Alive is set in the Front Mission universe, and I think that’s part of the problem. That’s quite possibly the most controversial thing that I’ve ever written, given the wave of blind hatred that the game has been attracting since it launched last week.

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